[TheForge] [OT] Stuart Hill again

[Mike Spencer]

Well, blacksmith-connected, if tenuously.

Those who recall the work of brilliantly clever Stuart Hill at Claydon
Forge -- e.g the Claydon clamp -- or saw his demo in WV in '82 or have
his book, Metallarbeiten/Metal Works, may be entertained to know about
his most recent book, utterly unrelated to metal.

    http://www.StolenIsles.com/

Long story short, his research indicates that the Shetlands were
pawned -- offered as security -- to James III of Scotland by the king
of Norway in lieu of dowry for his daughter, same to be paid later to
get the Shetlands back. That way 1469 and, according to Stuart, the
pawn has never been redeemed but the deal has never been undone so the
Shetlands and not properly part of Scotland or the UK.

Okay, wayyyy OT, but I rally admired Stuart's metal work and I'm
enormously entertained  by his new career as a thorn in the foot of UK
bureaucracy. 

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^